Limited Perspective

"I don't think you go to a play to forget, or to a movie to be distracted. I think life generally is a distraction and that going to a movie is a way to get back, not go away." - Tom Noonan I saw Big Rock at West of Lenin tonight and I am inspired to write about it. But as I sit here less than an hour later, the play is bringing up so many thoughts and emotions, I'm not sure where to start. That’s why I led with the quote from actor Tom Noonan. Big Rock took me inside the hearts of its three (really four) characters. There were mirrors to look into to see myself, and lenses to look through to see how life is. The characters did look -- especially Signe (Meg McLynn) and her father Harris (Todd Jefferson Moore.) Signe traveled across the country to see her father. When they met, what they saw in themselves and each other was heartbreaking for them -- and for me. It’s powerful what happens during and what comes after. Photo from West of Lenin. Original...

I saw Sam Shepard’s True West done by Porch Couch Productions at Red Curtain Foundation for the Arts last night in Marysville. They gave the Saul character more agency. The way I had read it and seen it previously, Saul was a weapon that the brothers, Lee and Austin, use in their fight against each other. In this production, Saul is more active. In his first scene, he expresses a sexual interest in Austin. This gives Lee yet another thing to try to steal from his brother. He steals Austin’s personal relationship with Saul, whatever it may have been, as well as their professional relationship. This also calls into further question exactly what happened at the golf outing the next morning. The script already leaves it a little unclear whether Saul “liked [the] story, pure and simple” as Lee says, or whether Lee won a bet. Now it’s possible that Lee literally screwed Austin out of his job. Later in the show, it’s clear that Saul has abandoned whatever interest he may have had ...

I should not be up this late, typing on the internet but I have seen three different varieties of improv show in the past eight days and I feel like I have something to say and I'd better try to get it out. There is so much improv! And so many flavors! Last Thursday I saw an immersive, improvisational, one-man show at the Rendezvous in Belltown called Keefee’s House of Cards where the actor invites four audience members up to play blackjack and then deals out cards, conversation, and biting humor. The brilliance of it is, it's a one-man show with a sharply defined character, straight out of real life -- but with no script. Saturday it was Playback Theater Northwest at Seattle Asian Medicine and Martial Arts in Lake City. In playback theater, an audience member is invited to tell a story from their life, then the actors “play it back.” The evening builds slowly. But by the end, people have opened up about past relationships, ongoing struggles, transformational events i...